Name that tense!
These are the three time frames we conjugate verbs in.
What is past, present, and future?
Conjugate "to touch" to match this sentence: The butler’s lips opened and a string of strange gutturals poured forth, while with his one disengaged hand (for the other was held to his side by Styles) he _________ his ears and his lips, and violently shook his head.
What is "touched"?
Identify the correct answer for the blank: The radiation that ______ during the decay of radioactive atomic nuclei is known as gamma radiation.
A) occurs
B) have occurred
C) occur
D) are occurring
What is A (occurs)?
British scientists James Watson and Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize in part for their 1953 paper announcing the double helix structure of DNA, but it is misleading to say that Watson and Crick discovered the double helix. ______blank findings were based on a famous X-ray image of DNA fibers, “Photo 51,” developed by X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin and her graduate student Raymond Gosling.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) They're
B) It's
C) Their
D) Its
What is C (their)
Break this word down into parts to create a definition of this word:
Demarcation
de: away/from/down
marc: from mark - boundary or limit
ation: the action of
demarcation: the action of setting a boundary down (creating a boundary or limit)
This tense is refers to the basic conjugation of a verb - I studied, I study, I will study.
What is simple tense?
Conjugate the verb "to tell" to fit this sentence:
In the historical novel The Surrender Tree, Cuban American author Margarita Engle uses poetry rather than prose ________ the true story of Cuban folk hero Rosa La Bayamesa.
What is "to tell"?
One of the few African American global explorers during the turn of the 20th century, ______
A) Matthew Henson made several treks across Greenland between 1891 and 1909.
B) 1891 and 1909 were the years between which Matthew Henson made several treks across Greenland.
C) Greenland was where Matthew Henson made several treks between 1891 and 1909.
D) several treks across Greenland were made by Matthew Henson between 1891 and 1909.
What is A (Matthew Henson made several treks across Greenland between 1891 and 1909)?
Mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz used the metaphor of the “butterfly effect” to explain how seemingly minor events can have major impacts on future weather. According to Lorenz’s metaphor, the wind from a butterfly flapping ______ in Brazil might eventually grow into a storm elsewhere across the globe.
A) its wings
B) its wings'
C) it's wing's
D) it's wings'
What is A (its wings)?
Break this word down into parts to create a definition of this word:
Complementary
complere: to fill up/complete
ary: charactierized by
complementary: characterized by completing (combining to enhance or emphasize qualities of each other)
This tense is also known as continuous, and focuses on the continuity of an action. "I was celebrating," "I am celebrating," or "I will be celebrating"
What is progressive tense?
Conjugate the verb "to invent" to fit this sentence:
In 1881, French chemist Camille Faure redesigned the rechargeable lead-acid battery. Faure’s design greatly increased the amount of electricity that the original battery, which the French physicist Gaston Planté ________ fifteen years earlier, could hold.
What is "had invented"?
In the list “Adorable Things” from Sei Shōnagon’s Pillow Book, the author delights in baby sparrows, a face drawn on a melon, and a young courtier in ceremonial garb. So shrewd an observer is Shōnagon, a lady-in-waiting to Empress Teishi, that her book’s musings on tenth-century Japanese courtly life ______ readers a thousand years later.
A) fascinate
B) has fascinated
C) fascinates
D) is fascinating
What is A (fascinate)?
The soundtrack to Mira Nair’s 1991 film Mississippi Masala expressively captures the clashing of cultures that happens when ______blank (a young Indian woman from Uganda and a young African American man from Mississippi) meet. Featured throughout the film are songs from Uganda’s Afrigo Band, the Indian composer L. Subramaniam, and the Mississippi blues musician Sam Chatmon.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) it's two protagonists
B) its two protagonist's
C) it's two protagonist's
D) its two protagonists
What is D (its two protagonists)?
Break this word down into parts to create a definition of this word:
Imperceptible
im: not
percept: (from combining per: through and capere: to take) to take in through the senses
ible: (from able) can be done
This tense focuses on actions being completed in relation to other events. "She had completed," "She has completed," and "She will have completed"
Conjugate the verb "to have" to fit this sentence: "Your stay in Mr. Adams’s house was quite productive, ma’am. Did you prolong it after the departure of this old man?” “No, sir, I _____________my fill of the mysterious, and left immediately after him.
What is "had had"?
When a given industry—water and electricity are two well-known examples—carries high infrastructural start-up costs and other barriers that discourage competition, ______ of just one or two suppliers per municipality. Such industries are known as natural monopolies.
A) these often consist
B) they often consist
C) it often consists
D) this often consists
What is C (it often consists)?
French philosopher René Descartes doubted whether he could prove his own existence. Eventually, he found proof in his famous phrase “I think, therefore I am.” The ______blank complexity: only those who exist would be able to ponder their existence.
A) phrases' simplicity masks its
B) phrases simplicity masks their
C) phrase's simplicity masks their
D) phrase's simplicity masks its
What is D (phrase's simplicity masks its)?
Break this word down into parts to create a definition of this word:
ubiquitous
ubique: (from ubi:where and que:every) everywhere
ous: having the quality of or possessing
ubiquitous: possessing everywhere (widespread)
This tense combines the ongoing nature of an action and its end at a certain time. "She had been working," "She has been working," and "She will have been working".
What is the perfect progressive?
Conjugate the word "to intend" to fit this sentence: American abstract artist Richard Serra, ______ his installations to make passersby keenly aware of how one’s movements are affected by the physical features of one’s environment, assembles large-scale steel plates into sculptures that dominate the outdoor spaces they occupy.
What is "intending"?
Pick the right option to complete this sentence: Despite being cheap, versatile, and easy to produce, ______ they are made from nonrenewable petroleum, and most do not biodegrade in landfills.
A) there are two problems associated with commercial plastics:
B) two problems are associated with commercial plastics:
C) commercial plastics’ two associated problems are that
D) commercial plastics have two associated problems:
What is D (commercial plastics have two associated problems)?
In a recent analysis of lyrical trends in 350,000 songs, researchers cite increases in certain measures, such as the ratio of choruses to verses, as evidence music lyrics are becoming more repetitive. For instance, from 1970 to 2020, ______blank chorus-to-verse ratios trended similarly, with each genre’s data indicating that relative to the number of unique verses, the number of repeated choruses in songs increased.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) rocks and raps
B) rock's and rap's
C) rocks and rap's
D) rock and rap's
What is B (rock's and rap's)?
Break this word down into parts to create a definition of this word:
Ameliorate
a: in a state/manner
melior: better
ate: to cause to become
Ameliorate: to make better